A Delightful Fit

Love, Loss & What I Wore, Hub Theatre Company of Boston at Club Café, 209 Columbus Avenue, Boston, through August 5. All tickets for all shows, pay-what-you-can.
www.hubtheatreboston.org. (Donations of new and gently worn clothing will be collected at each show for local charities)


Clothes can be both life odysseys and fashion statements. Reflecting that insight, former ad agency vice president Ilene Beckerman chronicled her own perspectives and those of other women in her 1995 memoir "Love, Loss & What I Wore," Nora and Delia Ephron adapted the insights of the veteran Jewish journalist into an alternately amusing and touching five actress play (2008) of the same name that became an Off-Broadway hit and a 2010 Drama Desk Award winner for Unique Theatrical Experience. Now the Hub Theatre Company of Boston is dressing up Club Café with this smartly tailored work in a high energy ensemble effort.

Director Paula Plum (herself one of the Hub's finest actresses) has caught the show's singular blend of wit and wisdom with strong performances from the rotating cast called on for demanding monologues, duos, trios and quintets. That talented ensemble—Nettie Chickering, Barbara Douglass, Lauren Elias , Evelyn Holley and June Kfoury— sport colorful boas from costume designer Kat Lawrence as they jauntily enter at the intimate Club Café to the Eurythmics hit "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." Designer Talia Elise joins in with audience-surrounding strobe lighting and giant pink neon hangers on stage. A stage right clothes rack holds a wide variety of drawings of outfits connected to the experiences of some of the women in question. Lining both sides of the audience are many very different outfits that all five will check out in an amusing and revealing later sequence.

Acting as a kind of returning narrator is Jewish New York native Gingy (with ginger-colored hair), who observes that "these dresses tell a story." The Beckerman-based character details fond memories of her childhood years in the Brownies, wearing perfume at age 12, outfits connected with her very different relationships and marriages and a classic Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress for her work. Kfoury captures her warmth, winning candor and strong family ties—particularly as Gingy speaks of her grandmother, aunt and four year old daughter—the last enjoying wearing her old outfits.

As the unusual play's title suggests, the outfits relate directly to Gingy and other women's memories of romance—both satisfying and failed—and the ups and downs of being adolescents, mothers and wives. The quintet sharply recalls maternal advice-including never wearing a red coat and the idea that nice Jewish girls do not get their ears pierced. Another advisory cautions to never wear velvet before Rosh Hashana. Timing and delivery are also crisp when the ensemble speaks of challenges with bras, outfits that do not seem to fit, picking the right wedding dress and insisting on black outfits as chic fashion statements. They move with proper abandon to Madonna's catchy "Vogue."

Aside from Kfouri's radiant Gingy, there are special set pieces from all cast members. Elias makes the most of evocations of prom dresses. She also gives vivid expression to a humorous put down of purses that involves an expensive Kelly (Grace Kelly, that is) one from Hermes and a very unassuming Charlie Card bag. Chickering brings virtuosic verve to a fashion dilemma about wearing arch-damaging heels or healthier choices like Birkenstocks. Elias and Chickering are very affecting as same sex spouses picking out bridal wear. Douglass is a hoot describing the hazards of the briefly trendy paper dress. Holley makes the situation and needs of a chemo patient very moving.

In playbill notes, director Plum expresses the hope that "you will share with us the joy of this delightful little play." Thanks to the delightful Hub ensemble—joyfully sister-like and individually inspired actresses, "Love, Loss, & What I Wore" is a perfect fit.